This ancient oak woodland was left to us in 1991 by its previous owner who had lived in a cabin in the wood. In 1998 we purchased the wildflower meadow next to it. The wood connects with our Biss Wood nature reserve and Green Lane Nature Park – why not enjoy a walk through them all. The open part of the wood is coppiced, encouraging woodland flowers to grow. They include Solomon’s seal, stinking Iris and greater butterfly orchid.

In summer look for butterflies: silver-washed fritillary, Duke of Burgundy, purple hairstreak, speckled wood and white-letter hairstreak. Autumn offers striking leaf colour and fungi; and in January and February listen for the hammering of the great spotted woodpecker. The meadow is full of flowers from spring onwards - scarce adder’s-tongue fern, common knapweed and betony. It is light and damp beneath the pylons - ideal for wild angelica and ragged robin.

In the woodland you can find nuthatch and jay. Look out for a treecreeper walking up the side of a tree trunk in search of food. Roe and muntjac deer are hard to spot, but you might see grass snake and slow worm basking in sunshine. The rare Bechstein’s bat makes the wood its home. It roosts in hollow or rotten trees, although it has been known to use bird and bat boxes.

The rides are covered with stones making access easy. The pond just off the main ride was created by a stray World War II bomb.

Biss Wood - 21 hectaresBiss Wood was clear felled and replanted in the late 1940s and early 1950s. It is now a mix of deciduous trees managed in the traditional way by coppicing. It was given to us in 2012. It is crossed with sunny woodland rides, ditches and also has a pond. In summer purple hairstreak butterflies seek nectar high in the canopy. Bechstein’s bats hunt for insects at dusk and you can see birds such as bullfinch. Wildflowers grow along the sunny rides such as common spotted orchid, Solomon's seal, bugle and St John's wort. Biss Wood has 389 species of fungi. Look for them in the autumn: purple jellydisk fungus, lilac bonnet, green elf cup (which is a beautiful turquoise colour), and the yellow coloured dog vomit slime mould - otherwise known as flowers of tan. We are working with the Scouts of Wiltshire West to develop their Jubilee Wood Scout Camp site, which is sandwiched between Biss Wood and Green Lane Nature Park.

Directions

It is intended that the main access to the whole site would be through the new housing development. Until building works are complete the main access is off the A350. Please take care pulling off / onto the A350 as the road can be very busy.

If driving - Near Trowbridge, just off the A350 Melksham to Westbury road (between the Hilperton/Steeple Ashton traffic lights and West Ashton traffic lights). Travelling from Melksham the reserve entrance can be found on the right hand side, 0.3 miles after Hilperton/Steeple Ashton crossroads. The reserve car park appears as a small break in woodland on right hand side of road. When approaching the reserve from Melksham it is easier and safer to go past reserve entrance and turn in large lay-by on left approx. 200 yards after, then approach reserve from opposite direction.

Please be aware that in a rural county postcodes often cover wide areas; some may point you to a reserve entrance, others may direct you to its centre and others may simply direct you to the reserve's vicinity.